Thinking Like an Editor

Chances are that you've edited someone else's work. It may have been as an editor, or perhaps you were doing a favor to a friend or colleague. You look at the piece and, without any personal attachment, concentrate on making it better. You look for places to reduce unnecessary verbiage, find spots that are unclear, and generally try to tighten things.

Few of us do that automatically with our own work. It's too easy to think that you've been too long at something already, or that you have a fondness for some phrases. But whether you're writing an article, a chapter, a brochure, or a query, you need to bring out your inner editor. Pretend that you have before you something written by another and go to town. Find every error that you can. Take pleasure in showing that person how to really express yourself in words. Toss out sections that don't work, and go so far as restructuring the entire piece of you think it necessary.

It's a bit of acting, this pretense, but will lead to the most real writing you can do. By tricking yourself into a different frame of mind, you reduce your urge to justify your work. On a playwriting list, I recently saw a post from someone who was getting a lot of positive reinforcement from some talented professional theatrical professionals, yet one comment from one admittedly talented and experienced actress was throwing him. He wanted to know how to discount it. I asked why he didn't also discount the praise from the others.

Writing is ultimately an unsentimental affair. You have a job to do - express certain ideas in a way that only you would - and nothing should come between you and that goal. Cultivate the dispassion of a surgeon trying to save someone's life. Only then will you do your best work, because you'll happily sacrifice any part that isn't doing its job.